Note: The film is without spoken dialogue, the intertitles are in English. I have completely revised the intertitles in terms of font design and sentence structure. I do not speak Russian so if anyone who can and is interested in making a more accurate translation (where needed) please send me a message.

Note: The resolution of the intertitle rendered fonts in the Flash player makes them look a little pixelated, though still readable. I do recommend downloading the original AVI file for a complete viewing experience.

This is the frame-by-frame restored version of Aelita (the original title of the film and play by Aleksei Tolstoy on which it was based, the added title 'Queen Of Mars' is obviously for international markets). The restored version also features a revised soundtrack using works from the composers Alexander Skryabin, Igor Stravinsky and Alexander Glazunov.

Directed By Yakov Protozoan
Written By Aleksei Fajko and Fyodor Otsep
Based On A Play By Aleksei Tolstoy

Review By Fiona Kelleghan:

This is called the first Soviet science fiction film because of its "futuristic" sets on Mars, although most of it takes place in Moscow. A mysterious radio message is beamed around the world, and among the engineers who receive it are Los, the hero, and his colleague Spiridonov.

Los is an individualist dreamer. Aelita is the daughter of Tuskub, the ruler of a totalitarian state on Mars in which the working classe are put into cold storage when they are not needed. With a telescope, Aelita is able to watch Los. As if by telepathy, Los obsesses about being watched by her.

After some foul play involving the murder of his wife and a pursuing detective, Los takes the identity of Spiridonov and builds a spaceship. With the revolutionary Gusev, he travels to Mars, but the Earthlings and Aelita are thrown into prison by the dictator. Gusev and Los begin a proletarian uprising, and Aelita offers to lead the revolution, but she then establishes her own totalitarian regime. Los is shocked by this development and attempts to stop Aelita, and then reality and fantasy become confused, and Los discovers what has really happened.

kosmikino@gmail.com

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